1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to torque measuring meters and more particularly to a hand held meter for measuring the torque required to apply or remove a screw type closure from the threaded neck or finish of an associated container having a threaded finish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of containers comprising combinations of screw-type closures with associated containers, it often becomes necessary or desirable to determine the degree to which the threaded closure complies with applicable torque specifications. For example, the torque with which a threaded closure is applied must be of a certain magnitude in order to properly seal the container so the closure does not become loose during shipment. Also, in the packaging of pharmaceutical products, since they can be toxic in the wrong dosages, dosage requirements are somewhat critical and it is often, either required or deemed desirable, to have a child-proof safety closure limiting access to the container contents. Such safety closures may, for example, comprise a threaded inner cap, for being threaded directly to the finish of a container, and an overlap loosely retractable relative to the inner cap. A user must push the outer cap axially onto the inner cap to engage a ratchet mechanism to be able to simultaneously turn the inner cap.
During the manufacture of products packaged in containers having threaded closures, the caps may be applied with a capping machine which must be adjusted from time to time to compensate for normal mechanical or component variations which may affect application torque. Normally, periodically control checks are conducted quarterly on the packages being produced. During a particular production run, an operator may periodically remove a completed sample product to determine the degree of torque required to remove the threaded closure from the associated container. A change of removal torque falling outside a predetermined range indicates the capping mechanism or other components of the manufacturing process must be adjusted or replaced.
There are known prior art devices and methods for affecting quality control torque tests of threaded closures to determine the amount of torque required to remove the closure from the threaded finish of the container. One of the standards of the industry is known as the Owens-Illinois Torque Meter manufactured by Secure Pak, Inc., Toledo, Ohio. There are also bench top torque measuring devices wherein the container is placed and squeezed to resist any rotational movement during the testing operation. The torque required to remove the associated closure is measured. To obtain the desired measurements, the containers must be transported to and from the torque measuring devices. The manner in which the torque is applied varies from one operator to another. Consequently, torque data produced by these operators is most likely to be non-uniform and non-reliable in comparison to industry standards.
It is a primary object of the present invention to produce a torque meter for determining the removal and/or application torque of a threaded closure on a container eliminating many of the operator induced errors associated with the use of manually operated meters.